Vietnam team beats Malaysia: Easy but also hard-fought

An own goal near the end, the red card overturned for Le Giang Patrick at minute 61... Malaysia as hosts were quite ordinary, whereas Kim Sang Sik's men were fortunate rather than skillful. The 2-0 win in Kuala Lumpur gives us a strong advantage going into the second leg of the ASEAN Cup 2026 semifinal.

Earlier, in over 45 minutes of the first half, the attacking trio of Dinh Bac, Xuan Son, and Tai Loc barely managed any shots on target. And when everyone was expecting a goalless first half, "airline" Xuan Son took off after a cross from the right wing by Tien Anh. 1-0 for Vietnam!

There aren't many positive statistical indicators for the winning team. Here we will discuss more about the two heart-stopping sorties by Le Giang Patrick.

First, in the first half, when Viet Anh was still in control and had even gained an advantage after a sprint with the opposing striker, Le Giang decided to rush out, resulting in a collision with Viet Anh himself. Fortunately, the referee did not award a penalty to Malaysia, even though Viet Anh's foot (after the collision with Le Giang) made contact with the Malaysian attacker.

And the second situation at minute 61 was the incident where Le Giang escaped a red card (more precisely, it was rescinded) after the referee reviewed VAR. In that play, Van Vi was marking striker number 13 Sumareh, and we still had enough defenders inside. However, Le Giang rushed out again, and if the referee had maintained the initial decision, we couldn't have complained.

Overall, Le Giang Patrick had a decent game apart from these two incidents. Even up to this point in the season, the starting goalkeeper of the Vietnam national team has been the most consistent player, having conceded only one goal. But concern has begun to arise from the match in Kuala Lumpur.

For a goalkeeper, tension is always at its peak. One wrong decision can affect the entire outcome. Such as decisions to rush out or stay on the line, to punch clear or catch the ball... They must be made in an instant and must be as rational as possible. Right or wrong, hero or villain, it all happens in that split second.

Very, very fortunate for Le Giang and the Vietnam team that no unfavorable decisions were made. And as analyzed above, we had a comfortable yet hard-fought victory, even though Malaysia showed no superiority except for a slightly higher possession percentage than Vietnam.

Congratulations to coach Kim Sang Sik and his team. After this 2-0 win on Malaysian soil, the return leg at home is likely just a formality. We have been indebted to Malaysia from the 2010 ASEAN Cup semifinal (then called AFF Suzuki Cup) 16 years ago, and now we will pay back both principal and interest.

See you in the final, Thailand - that's perfect!